Not interested in reading

[Lemex]

Some people on this thread are making some really odd suggestions, like great, difficult works of literature like Thomas Pynchon and James Joyce. The OP is selective about what they like and read, so do you think Gravity's Rainbow will open their eyes? Gravity's Rainbow, a book where there is a club just for people who have finished it. I love Pynchon myself, I think he's a god, but to suggest him on this thread is just ... wrong.

What the OP might like is short stories, Poe, Lovecraft, Murakami, Carver, these are all suggestions I would consider. All short story writers that can be read within a few minutes to a few hours, and are really varied in tone and subject matter.

[pet.]

Lemex: I agree about the short stories, but go back to the first post; Borges? Casares? Vonnegut isn't exactly pulp, you know. I think more difficult might end up being more interesting in this case.

[Lemex]

Lemex: I agree about the short stories, but go back to the first post; Borges? Casares? Vonnegut isn't exactly pulp, you know. I think more difficult might end up being more interesting in this case.

That's very true. I'm trying to think of a few others and the only one that comes to mind is Stephen King.

[pet.]

Hm.. Isaac Asimov? Arthur C. Clarke? Orson Scott Card? To be honest, there are at least a few weeks worth of suggestions here already. Perhaps it's worth waiting for the OP to reply.

[Lemex]

Hm.. Isaac Asimov? Arthur C. Clarke? Orson Scott Card? To be honest, there are at least a few weeks worth of suggestions here already. Perhaps it's worth waiting for the OP to reply.

Thank you! Isacc Asimov. I was trying to remember that name.

[AmsterdamAssassin]

LOL. And obviously, you're quite young.

[snip]

Go buy a Harley. Fight for a lost cause. Lose twenty pounds. And quit all of this sniveling. Talk to a girl. They aren't that terrifying, and they smell pretty good.

I wouldn't want to be you.

Well, I'm 45, I ride a BMW R1100GS over unpaved roads, I like camping and hunting with crossbows and slingshots, I'm married with two children. And I only snivel when I catch a cold.

And I'm glad I don't share your prejudices.

[Just Jon]

I pride myself on being a good friend and a bad enemy.

Can't begin to say how much I like this line. It fits one of my characters so perfectly.

I'm amazed at how often, even in off-topic disagreements, pure gold just pours from this forum and into my hands.

[live2write]

To the OP, have you read Chuck Palahniuk? He's the author of the novel Fight Club and a host of others. Also, I commend you for mentioning Philip K. Dick - you might want to know that there are five volumes of short stories that are truly excellent.

Myself, I used to read indiscriminately until I started writing, and found that writing made me more critical of stories and I've become much selective in reading.



I understand that you're quite old, so maybe your age has to do with it, but even though I have American friends and have heard a lot of negative stuff about the US, I'd still like to see the US for myself to form my own opinion.

No I haven't read any of Chuck Palahniuk's works.

Some people on this thread are making some really odd suggestions, like great, difficult works of literature like Thomas Pynchon and James Joyce. The OP is selective about what they like and read, so do you think Gravity's Rainbow will open their eyes? Gravity's Rainbow, a book where there is a club just for people who have finished it. I love Pynchon myself, I think he's a god, but to suggest him on this thread is just ... wrong.

What the OP might like is short stories, Poe, Lovecraft, Murakami, Carver, these are all suggestions I would consider. All short story writers that can be read within a few minutes to a few hours, and are really varied in tone and subject matter.

I found some of Lovecraft's works online. I was angry that my train ride had arrived to my destination and I was still in the mood to read more and more. Thank you for the suggestions, now I have one author on my list I want to read more of.

[Lemex]

I found some of Lovecraft's works online. I was angry that my train ride had arrived to my destination and I was still in the mood to read more and more. Thank you for the suggestions, now I have one author on my list I want to read more of.

Cool. I'm glad to hear you are enjoying them.

Just out of interest, which ones did you read/have you read?

[Anitorious]

I suffer from the same predicament as you. I'm very particular about my reading material, but the best tool in my arsenal has to be the library. I can take out six or seven different authors at a time, and wittle them down to a good one or two.
Your taste in books is quite strange. ^^ I hope you can sate your hunger for tasty books!
I'd recommend the Cloud Atlas, it really is a beautiful story.

My favourites have always been the 'Series of Unfortuneate Events' by Lemony Snicket, I'd recommend them too.

And as for The Tourist, your posts make for an interesting read, I understand what you are getting at but the reason some forum members may not understand you isn't to do with anything superficial such as age, just the way they think and how they process your prose, but you are entertaining as always. :P

[Fullmetal Xeno]

LOL. And obviously, you're quite young.

The 'age' I am is not the aging process of our fathers. I go to the gym everyday, my wife and I don't have junk food in the house, and I do the same things I did in my twenties. Most of the young guys at the gym can't keep up.

When I was younger, I felt as you do. I looked at the age of thirty, and felt it was "the beginning of the end."

Then at fifty I built the fastest bike I had ever owned. The most dangerous man I knew was 64 years old. And all around me folks seemed to be engaged in life the same way.

But I'll tell you how I feel looking back at youth. Your generation isn't as well educated. The standard four-year college education I got now comprises much of a Masters Degree and beyond. I find a guy with over 1,000 cyber 'friends' doesn't know how to change a tire or talk to a girl. They carry more body fat than I do. They are more timid. I have a few broken bones from standing my ground, now folks run and hide, or call daddy or an attorney.

In short, while I admire your 'youth' as a commodity to live longer, I do not value your generation or where it's headed. Sitting in your mom's basement playing Halo and eating pizza rolls isn't a lifestyle, it's a run-away-from-life-style.

Go buy a Harley. Fight for a lost cause. Lose twenty pounds. And quit all of this sniveling. Talk to a girl. They aren't that terrifying, and they smell pretty good.

I wouldn't want to be you.

I wouldn't want to be you either. The factor of your bragging seems extremely immature for such a "wise" age. If you haven't already, you should read Cogito's warning.

[Mell]

I also used to have this problem. I was forced to read so many books I didn't like during school, I thought I just didn't like books. Although, I've always been interested in writing, and because of this I went to an effort to find books I did like, and once I did, my problem was solved, and now I find that I can even finish books that I don't find all that interesting from the start. Just have to find the books you like enough to finish.

[The Tourist]

I suffer And as for The Tourist, your posts make for an interesting read, I understand what you are getting at but the reason some forum members may not understand you isn't to do with anything superficial such as age, just the way they think and how they process your prose, but you are entertaining as always.

Whether people admit it or not, they drag around their personal life lessons. Coupled that with age, and the way you feel about things comes bubbling out in your stories.

This "good friend, bad enemy" bent is just what life has taught me. Many people will smile at you. Most are insincere. They want something, usually the fruits of your work. We (the editorial 'we') will most likely want to "go along to get along" and many times we resent that.

Then you turn 60, and the filters get discarded. You (editorial) are retired, you have no vested interest in buttering anyone up. You don't need an idiot's money, you're sick of laughing at their jokes, and frankly you've been plotting their deaths for several decades.

My problem is watching this process through my father, and being an open, skeptical and angry young man through most of my life. My dad was a business success, but at the cost of kissing a lot of frogs.

I've never had the filters he had. I hated the liberal aspects of society from the git-go. The idea of being a social parasite is really what 'easy rider' means. I distrust smiles. And a young man with this bent found motorcycle clubs, or they found him.

As a bill collector I could hunt down parasites. As a credit manager specializing in distressed companies I could expose the abuses of men in power, and fix the problem. As a retired writer, I no longer have to hold my tongue. At 60, I told my wife I would no longer self-censor my speech. After knowing me for 40 years she expressed surprise that I ever did.

As to our writing, the decades in building these coping mechanisms is reflected in my prose. For example, my lead is ordered to stop a sniper, who turns out to be a young foreign dignitary. In "doing his job" he dispassionately shoots and kills the 'sniper,' who appears to have already murdered a hostage. However, once the smoke clears, his employers and the power behind the throne find it easier to quell the political fall-out by firing him. Much like me, he chews them out at his own hearing. He is unrepentant.

While fanciful, that happened to me. By both social reputation and strident discourse I put so much fear into the middle manager who fired me his hands shook. He was in so much fear of retaliation that he processed full unemployment benefits--for which I never asked.

I use real events in my life to write. Fully 75% of my lead is me.

[Floatbox]

One learns good story structure by following stories through any of several media. But one learns to write stories well by reading extensively. I don't believe you can learn how to write without reading extensively. You need to see what works, what does not work, and why. Not just hear about it, see it in print.

I have two major questions for you:

1) WHY are you not interested in reading?

2) Given that you aren't interested in reading, why do you want to write?

I think if you can answer these questions honestly, you'll be well on your way to solving your problem.

Most of the stories I have read never interested me. I would read the first page or first chapter and I would get bored of it. Sometimes I would fall asleep. Trying to explain this as a child I can only say, "The stories are boring and I feel like falling asleep. I can read them but I cannot be interested enough to remember what is going on or even care about what is going on." Now I would say the same thing. There are stories that are either too monotonous for me but for others are interesting and intriguing.

Just because I am not interested in reading does not mean I am not interested in writing. I believe it is two different things. Reading is more for indulging an idea and/or story line and following the writer's voice in the telling of the story. Where writing I am creating my own story and my own ideas.

To understand how to write well, reflect on why things work and don't. You can go deeper than, "Well, I just lost interest!" Why did you lose interest? What was it about the writing that lost your interest? If you don't know, why not find out! You can go deeper than, "I like science fiction!" What do you like about science fiction? Why? If you don't know, find out! Curiosity is a wonderful, wonderful thing. If you get in the habit of asking, "Why?" in reflecting upon your reading experiences, your understanding of the workings of your own writing can only improve. The finer grained your reflection, the more nuanced your own writing will be.

You may find yourself going, "My God! So this is what this writer is doing to instill such passion in me! He is using a combination of this technique and that structure and this attitude! Let me try this combination in my own! WAIT I AM SO INSPIRED WHAT IS THIS FEELING OF ENERGY COURSING THROUGHOUT MY BODY I MUST WRITE OR I WILL DROWN IN UNUSED POTENTIAL."

I'm not saying you have to pursue this level of curiosity and insight in order to write. You can write whatever you want. If the only quality you enjoy about your own words is your possession over them, you don't have to go any farther than that. But, you can go deeper. It's there. And it's the way to enjoy books on a much deeper level, to develop an interesting opinion about literature and life, and as a result, develop your own innate talent. That path is open to you. If you want it. You don't have to want it, but if you do, I wouldn't blame ya.

[AmsterdamAssassin]

To understand how to write well, reflect on why things work and don't. You can go deeper than, "Well, I just lost interest!" Why did you lose interest? What was it about the writing that lost your interest? If you don't know, why not find out! You can go deeper than, "I like science fiction!" What do you like about science fiction? Why? If you don't know, find out! Curiosity is a wonderful, wonderful thing. If you get in the habit of asking, "Why?" in reflecting upon your reading experiences, your understanding of the workings of your own writing can only improve. The finer grained your reflection, the more nuanced your own writing will be.

Well, as the OP says "The stories are boring and I feel like falling asleep. I can read them but I cannot be interested enough to remember what is going on or even care about what is going on."
That says to me that the story failed to engage the reader [you could also surmise that the reader failed to be engaged by the story, but most likely the flaw is with the story, not the reader]. As to why the story failed to engage, there are multiple answers: the characters are either cardboard or too far-fetched for empathy, the prose is either too dull or too extravagant to suit the taste of the reader, the dialogue is clunky and unrealistic, the obstacles for the characters are not interesting enough, the plot is too convoluted to be followed, the problems of the characters either fail to resonate with the reader or are simply not interesting/shocking enough. You can go on and on...

As Elmore Leonard says, 'Skip the boring parts'.

[GoldenGhost]

I have to admit that this thread got way toooo off subject and I fear the ego has clouded a good portion with it's storm. Personally, I could spend my life worrying about what goes on around me, the people below or above me, the cars, the tv, the food, the education, you name it, and get so caught up I forget the world breathes and so do I.

To the OP: I think Poe's works are absolutely fantastic, especially the short stories, but that is just me, seeing he is one of my favorite writers.. If you can get through his poetic prose and flare he adds (since he enjoyed using words obscure and complex for the sake of forcing the reader to read proactively) I think you'll find them magnificent and easy reads. Some, at first glance, think Poe was a doom and gloom kind of guy, but the reality is, he is a romantic in every sense of the word and a dreamer... the world was beautiful to him, almost too beautiful.. and that is one of the things that captivated me the most about his work.

The suggestion about Palahniuk's works are also fine too, though sometimes his writing lacks... Diary is definitely an interesting twist if you enjoy conspiracies. There is also a ton of good fantasy out there, with great stories and relable characters, that unfortuntately are not written superbly, but were still awesome reads imo. David Eddings specifically, though he and his wife do a great job. The Belgariad and Mallorean... along with The Elenium and Tamuli There is a lot of intrigue intertwined in those stories ontop of a whole underbelly society he created that practically is it's own character.

that's my two cents...

-Ghost

[Floatbox]

As to why the story failed to engage, there are multiple answers: the characters are either cardboard or too far-fetched for empathy, the prose is either too dull or too extravagant to suit the taste of the reader, the dialogue is clunky and unrealistic, the obstacles for the characters are not interesting enough, the plot is too convoluted to be followed, the problems of the characters either fail to resonate with the reader or are simply not interesting/shocking enough. You can go on and on...

Right. I'm saying this has value. The more effective you are at this analysis, the better you can review others' work and your own, the better solutions you bring to the table in the editing process, the better reader and writer you are. It starts with an active curiosity, a drive to go deeper than, "Well it's boring." Not to mention that reading boring things improves the concentration, though it may feel like work. BTW OP, daily meditation helps with focus, believe it or not, I've become a much better reader since.

[AmsterdamAssassin]

Not to mention that reading boring things improves the concentration, though it may feel like work.

I distinguish between reading for pleasure or reading for other reasons [research/critiquing]: when I read for pleasure, my time is simply too precious to waste it on writing that fails to engage me. It's the duty of a writer to write an engaging story, if they fail at that, I will toss their writing in a corner and pick up the next book. If, on the other hand, I'm reading for other reasons, then I can suspend my necessity to be engaged, as long there is a purpose, either gaining information that can be used in my own work, or my promise to another writer to analyze their work to help them improve themselves.

[Floatbox]

@assassin

Fair enough! It is true we need some sort of filter (and we really don't have a choice) in figuring what's worth our time. But there should be a difference when checking out a 99¢ ebook and approaching an acclaimed or classic author. It's important to recognize when the author isn't engaging us, and when a work is challenging and requires effort to engage with it. A lot of times, a book is all the more rewarding because it is challenging. But yeah, it would be absurd to suggest that we trudge through dreary mediocrity in order to exercise our patience and analyze failure. I definitely agree.

[cs2212]

This post actually got me thinking! To begin with I considered that I agreed that I very rarely read and rarely read at school as I didn't engage with the storylines or characters in the literature I was offered.

But I always had straight A's in English and I came to realise this is probably partly because Im a strong public speaker and an avid reader of non fiction work. I've won prizes doing debating and I think part of my ability to write persuasively came from being able to translate those skills to effectively just put a 'speech' to paper and present it as an essay.

Now that I've recently started writing fiction I think that it serves me well as I am experienced in reading and writing from a first person, non fiction perspective and I am now able to apply fictional concepts to the same communication style. - The point being that just because you aren't reading full length novels doesn't mean you dont read in some context.

Although, in my career I would always suggest that newer staff should look to successful role models within the team or wider business to identify "high performance behaviours" which they can learn from and adapt to hone their own skills. The same basic thing would apply here, if you can find an author who writes in a style you aspire to then it can only be a good thing to study their work and identify the strengths from it which you can learn from and apply to your own work.